Caring for Children With Medical Complexities: Practice With Life-Saving Devices Makes Perfect
Filling a gap in clinical care training to support vulnerable children
October 21, 2016

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SAN FRANCISCO – Quickly and confidently, the three clinicians worked in tandem to clear a tracheostomy tube plugged with mucous, a medical emergency that happens all too often frequently. One threaded a narrow tube through the device’s opening, attempting to clear the obstruction. When that failed to fix the problem, another calmly pumped air through the opening to ensure that Nickie, a mannequin tot used for training, was receiving sufficient oxygen. The third pressed a stethoscope to the infant’s chest to confirm that his lungs were properly responding to the renewed oxygen flow. Within seconds, they had replaced the trach.

With practice, their moves were now perfect. Recent medical breakthroughs have enabled very premature infants and children with rare genetic and neurological diseases to survive what had once been considered to be fatal conditions. This has resulted in a growing number of children with medically complex conditions whose very survival depends on ongoing use of technology to help their brains function, their lungs take in oxygen, and their bodies remain nourished.

“Inevitably, these things happen at 3 in the morning,” Dr. Shah adds. “Individual clinicians’ skill level and comfort with the devices varies. We should all have the same core competency.”

During the simulation, the audience is given a specific case. They have eight minutes to troubleshoot and resolve the issue, using mannequins specially fitted with devices, such as trach tubes and feeding tubes, in need of urgent attention. Depending on their actions, the mannequin may decompensate with worsened breathing and racing heartbeats. The high-stakes, hands-on demo is followed by a 12-minute debrief, a safe environment to review lessons learned. Once they complete one simulation, attendees move to the next in the series of four real-life scenarios.

“We’ve done this a few times and my heart rate still goes up,” Dr. Shah admits. After giving similar training sessions at other academic meetings, participants said that having a chance to touch and feel the devices and become familiar with them in a calm environment is a benefit.

Dr. Shah came up with the concept for the hands-on training by speaking with a small group of peers, asking about how comfortable they felt managing kids with medical complex cases. The vast majority favored additional education about common devices, such as gastronomy tubes, tracheostomy tubes, and ventriculoperitoneal shunts. In addition to the in-person training, the team has created a web-based curriculum discussing dysautonomia, spasticity, gastroesophageal reflux disease, enteric feeding tubes, venous thromboembolism, and palliative care, which they described in an article published in the Fall 2015 edition of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.

“Most times, clinicians know what they need to do and the steps they need to follow. They just haven’t done it themselves,” Dr. Bhansali adds. “The simulation forces people to put their hands on these devices and use them.”

AAP 2016 presentations:

Saturday, October 22, 2016

W1059- “Emergencies in the Technology-Dependent Child: What Every Pediatrician Should Know”8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. (SOLD OUT)

About Children's National Health System

Children’s National Health System, based in Washington, D.C., has been serving the nation’s children since 1870. Children’s National is #1 for babies and ranked in every specialty evaluated by U.S. News & World Report and has been designated two times as a Magnet® hospital, a designation given to hospitals that demonstrate the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C. Metropolitan area including the Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia. Home to the Children’s Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children’s National is one of the nation’s top NIH-funded pediatric institutions. Children’s National is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels.